3,400-year-old Skeleton Shows Brain Surgery Traces
Skeletons of two Bronze Age brothers were found during an archaeological dig in Israel. The skull of one of them had a hole that was made during a trepanation procedure. Scientists say this is the oldest evidence of such an operation in the region.
The world’s oldest surgeries were performed several or even several thousand years ago. Ancient medicine developed by trial and error. Not all treatments were successful. It is likely that most of them ended in tremendous suffering for the patient anyway, and sometimes even death.
Earliest evidence of trepanation in the Middle East
However, there are known cases of ancient medical experiments that ended successfully. This was the case, among others, with a Spanish skull that had traces of several incisions indicating ear surgery. The skeleton was more than 5,000 years old. Moreover, the first successful amputation was carried out about 31,000 years ago in Borneo. The researchers found that after the lower leg was cut off, the patient still lived for six to nine years.
The latest discovery in Israel, in turn, sheds new light on the history of the operation in the Middle East. During a recent archaeological dig at a tomb in the ancient city of Tel Megiddo, researchers found the remains of two brothers who…
